Karen Lungu: Eating like the Eskimos

By Karen Lungu

Posted:
10/12/2012 09:01:57 AM MDT

Karen Lungu

I 'd admit -- I thought I knew the secret: omega 3.

I begin my days with my bowl of oatmeal sprinkled with wheat germ and flaxseed (omega 3). I grab a handful of walnuts (omega 3). I actually like Brussels and spinach (omega 3), and I have my seared wild salmon salad a couple times a week (omega 3). And, just in case, I took a fish oil supplement (omega 3).

Omega 3 has been touted as the superpower in fighting asthma, heart disease, arthritis, depression and Alzheimer's. Of course, years ago, Ginkgo Biloba was supposed to stave off memory loss so I tried that, too. I bought a bottle of it, put it up in my cabinet and promptly forgot about it until two years later when I cleaned the cabinet. By that time, it was expired -- and obviously, I have not improved my memory.

So, you can imagine my horror when I picked up a Wall Street Journal last week and the headlines blared, "Questioning the Superpowers of Omega-3 in Diets. Turns out, Eskimos just have good genetics.

I'll be honest, it only recently occurred to me that no matter how well I eat, how many classes of pilates my darling daughters drag me kicking and screaming to, all the while admonishing me if I don't stop whining they're going to leave me home, or how much time I take for meditation, I someday will die. Yes, I was one of those who thought I could beat it. In the meantime, I'm hoping I have Eskimo genetics.

My grandmother is 92 and my mother-in-law, 89. These hardy women grew up during the depression and both deprived of food at times.

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Both have very healthy appetites. My grandmother loved to cook large Sunday dinners. Every now and then, she and I would walk to the butcher's shop and order T-bone steaks. I loved T-bone steak Sunday. My grandmother would proceed to cut off all the fat from everyone's steak after grilling and pile it onto her plate, where she commenced to eating every bite.

Yes, don't you wish you had that kind of willpower? My grandmother still is quite sharp, though her short-term memory may not be what it was once. She still gets in short walks, and she's an absolutely wicked dominoes player (even if she changes the rules every single game). And, as she likes to boast, she has every one of her original teeth. That turkey done went over a log for me when I tried to hang a shower curtain while looking up.

My mother-in-law, Anne, grew up under very harsh circumstances, losing her mother when she was 6. Her father worked hard and every payday, he bought a 50-pound bag of potatoes for his seven children and a bottle of wine for himself. So, Anne was determined her family never would be deprived of food. The first thing she says when someone walks through her door is, "eat, eat," as she pulls mounds of food from the refrigerator. She still does her own baking and cooking, using all the things I banned from my house ages ago. Those really good saturated fats, sweets and hydrogenated oils. Yet, she still lives on her own and she is one of the brightest women I've ever known.

I'm not going to give up on Omega-3's, though I will save a little change and forego the supplements just as my little darlins have been harping about ever since they went off to college or the military and became smarter than me.

And, if I ever see a study that says that age-defying and anti-wrinkle creams don't work, I'm giving up reading. I have decided that 22 years is time enough to go without a powdered cinnamon donut and vanilla latte.

So, if you'll excuse me, I'm getting crumbs all over my computer -- and I hate to talk with food in my mouth.

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